Quarter take half of all GP appointments

A QUARTER of the population take up half of all GP appointments and hospitalisations, a study has found.

New research found that more than a quarter of adults in England have more than one longterm illness such as high blood pressure or diabetes. And the majority of GP consultations, prescriptions and hospital admissions were associated with patients with so-called multimorbidity, according to experts.

Researchers said that NHS services designed to treat single illnesses need to be redesigned to cope with the rising tide of people with multiple long-term conditions. The authors of the study, published in the

point out that patients with numerous longterm conditions “often have complicated medical needs, including understanding and managing multiple illnesses and complex medication regimens”.

After analysing data on more than 400,000 GP patients in England, the researchers found that 27.2 per cent have more than one long-term condition.

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, of the Royal College of GPs, said: “This large-scale, comprehensive research is further evidence of the increasing complexity of cases that GPs are dealing with, and the inadequacy of the standard 10-minute consultation.”